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4 times women hosted an award show and did a fabulous job at it!

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Aishwarya Srinivasan
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women hosted award shows

There haven't been many times that women have hosted an award show, but whenever they did, they knocked it out of the park with their perfect comic timing!

Contrary to popular opinion, hosting is an art in itself; you have the responsibility of not only holding everyone's attention for 2 hours but also set the right tone for the evening. And while award shows have mostly been hosted by men over the years, some of whom forgot the thin line between jokes and crass insults, yeah, we're looking at you Jo Koy, it's time women were given equal opportunities to host such big events as well.

There have been quite a few times in the past where some really funny women have hosted these award functions and those went on to become some of our ultimate favorite moments on TV. For instance when Tina Fey and Amy Poelher hosted the Golden Globes a good four times, no matter how many years have passed, their jokes still remain relevant. Just like them, there are other women too who hosted award shows and hit it out of the park. They're sarcastic, they're witty and most importantly, they're funny without putting someone else down.

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In 2013, Tina Fey and Amy Poelher took the stage to host the 70th Golden Globes for what would be the first of three consecutive gigs and then again in 2021. The duo hosting this thrice gave us so many memorable moments from their monologue. They often included on-going issues with the world so they're addressed on a big platform. For instance - their 2021 monologue concluded with them talking about COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter. They knew when to keep it serious and when to break back to being funny. 

Whoopi Goldberg is literally the only woman of color so far to have hosted an award show solo. She hosted the Oscars in 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2002. Her monologues show that while there’s such a huge pressure as a host to deliver a good show, she still didn’t forget to have some fun along the way! 

In 2018, Screen Actor’s Guild Awards (SAG) had a female host for the very first time. Kristen Bell struck a good balance between being quick, witty and talking about her love for the movies. As a host, you need to know enough and more about movies and TV shows, especially the ones nominated, something Jo Koy lacked when he spoke about Barbie at the Golden Globes 2024. Kristen, though, did a great job while also being gutsy by getting political and talking about Melania Trump who was the first lady at the time.

Patricia Richardson hosted the Emmys back in1994. The Emmys have been going on since the 1960s and in its seven decade long run, it has called for a female host twice. Regardless, the she did a really great job at hosting and her press photos from that day are proof! 

Unfortunately, there aren't any Indian references we could find for this because Indian actresses haven't gotten the opportunity to host a big award show yet, atleast not solo. This leaves us with some food for thought. Even after proving themselves a plethora of times, the number of female hosts is shockingly low. Where's the equality, really?

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Golden Globes emmys Oscars whoopi goldberg female hosts Patricia Richardson Amy Poelher Tina Fey Ellen DeGeneres